With changes and advancement in technology, local innovations and solutions, if properly adopted, can improve business management and help businesses survive the effects of COVID-19.

Barbara Birungi Mutabazi, the founder of Women in Technology Uganda, said for a long time, there has been a high technological gender digital divide in Uganda that has affected the recovery of women in business. She said with the lack of ICT skills, many women-owned businesses have closed, especially those in the informal sector, yet they could have easily repositioned themselves to use ICT to stay in business.

Birungi said the COVID-19 pandemic has also helped to support the increase in the number of women who use ICT for business.

“Before the pandemic, many operated purely brick and mortar shops with no use of the Internet. Today, many are closing their brick and mortar shops, opting to become online shops, mainly running on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram,” she said.

Birungi added that local solutions such as Ensibuko are providing financial solutions to SACCOS to improve management, while the agricultural sector has agro supply that allows farmers to save money for seeds and access them easily when it is planting time.

She said different technologies have been developed to empower the emerging digital economies from financial solutions to health solutions such as Rocket health that allows one to get medical attention from real doctors using a phone wherever they are.

“The future of ICT in Uganda’s economy is bright. It is just starting. We are just beginning to understand the power of technology in businesses and all other sectors. How ICT can support in agriculture, finance and all the other sectors. However, the Government needs to

support the growth of this sector by creating favourable policies and tax reductions,” Birungi said.

She added that the goal for women in technology is to close the technological gender gap through a coding academy that trains young women programming skills, mobile app development, graphic design and connect them to digital jobs across the world.

Social media management for small businesses, supporting women-owned businesses to get online and grow businesses online and entrepreneurship as well as business management training for women with small businesses and startups.

“We also have hackathons to support young women develop ICT innovations and then we incubate them to grow those ideas into viable businesses as well as ICT clubs in schools focusing on ensuring that girls are equally represented in the ICT classroom. We work with teachers and student bodies to ensure that girls are not left behind when it comes to digital literacy,” Birungi added.